Press releases

DERWENT Facilities Management (Derwent FM) has announced two key new appointments, ready to join a strong and established team providing support services to over 18,000 student units across the UK.

The company, which is a subsidiary of affordable housing provider Derwent Living, specialises in offering integrated, bundled or individual services, including cleaning, security and building maintenance.

New to the company this month is director of operations Israr Shah, who has a wealth of experience in the FM industry having previously worked in similar roles for top companies such as Asda, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Center Parcs.

Originally trained as a marine engineer, the 46-year-old will be responsible for the compliance and safety of all of the company’s systems – which include both hard and soft FM. He will also be formalising processes to ensure service levels are standardised around the UK.

Israr, who is married with three children, will be working predominantly from Derwent FM’s Harrogate office.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to the challenges ahead. There is a lot to do but this is an exciting time for Derwent FM, which is on the cusp of some rapid expansion.

“It is nice to come in at a stage where I can help turn some already excellent FM processes into a finely tuned operation.”

Also joining the company as finance manager is Nick Birch, a qualified chartered accountant who has clocked up more than 30 years in the industry.

Nick, 56, has spent that past couple of years in freelance roles, having previously worked for a wide variety of businesses ranging from a major European distribution firm to a family construction company.

He has four grown up children and two grandchildren – with another on the way.

Nick said: “This will be a delightful new challenge. Derwent FM is a little different from anywhere I have worked before because of its strong social remit. But I have a great team and I’m very much looking forward to taking the business forward.”

Latest news

We are delighted to announce that DFM have been successful in securing a significant long term contract with the University of Leicester supplying circa 1200 beds from 2020. This contract adds yet another Scheme to our extensive pipeline of upcoming business over the next few years and represents a very exciting opportunity to work with yet another very progressive client in the University of Leicester.

Derwent Living (Derwent FM's parent organisation) has officially joined the Places for People Group as a subsidiary organisation. The move will see the Group become one of the UK’s largest property management organisations with a portfolio of more than 182,000 homes across the country.

Derwent FM will be exhibiting at this year’s Facilities Show in London from Tuesday 21 June to Thursday 23 June – so why not come along and meet our team? We’re really looking forward to attending the event and meeting lots of new and existing clients and partners.